How to Choose Your Niche in One Sentence
By Kamal Abdelrahman, personal branding strategist and filmmaker, Dubai
"I help businesses grow."
That's what a lot of bios say, and it means almost nothing. Which businesses? Grow how? Why you?
Most people avoid choosing a niche for one reason: they're scared of losing work. It feels safer to say you do everything for everyone. But nobody searches for "someone who does everything." They look for the person who does the exact thing they need.
When you say everything, people remember nothing.
The formula
Here's the sentence I use. Fill in the blanks:
"I help [who] get [result] through [how]."
A few examples:
- → "I help first-time buyers find family homes in Dubai Hills."
- → "I help new restaurants in Dubai fill their tables through short-form video."
- → "I help founders turn their expertise into client enquiries on LinkedIn."
My own is "I turn cameras into clients." Short, and it says the result. It took me years to get there, because for a long time I just said, "I shoot videos."
How to find your "who"
Make a list of your past clients or customers. Then ask these three questions.
Who did you enjoy working with? You'll be making content about these people for years. Pick people you actually like.
Who got the best results? That's where your proof lives, and proof is what sells.
Who can actually pay? Passion's lovely. But if they have no budget, it's a hobby. Be honest about this.
Look for overlap. If you've got no past clients yet, pick the group you understand best, perhaps because you used to be one of them.
How to find your "result"
People don't buy what you do. They buy what changes after. Ask your best customer, "What's different now that we've worked together?" Use their words, not yours.
Make sure you can truly deliver what you say. A smaller claim you can prove beats a bigger claim you can't.
Test it before you commit
You don't need to agonise over this for months. Test it in the real world.
The stranger test. Say your sentence to someone outside your industry. Can they tell you who you help? If they look confused, simplify it.
The referral test. Ask a friend, "If you met someone who needed this, would you think of me?" A clear niche makes you easy to recommend. "Oh, you need a family-home specialist? I know someone."
The content test. Can you list 20 video ideas for this group, off the top of your head? If you can't, you may not know them well enough, or the niche may be too narrow.
The search test. Type the niche into Google, Instagram and YouTube. Do people talk about it? Competition is actually a good sign. It means there's demand. An empty niche is often empty for a reason.
"But what if I lose other clients?"
This is the fear I hear most, so let me be clear. A niche is what you lead with, not everything you accept.
You can still take other work. A Dubai Hills specialist can still sell in Arabian Ranches. But your marketing talks about one thing, because that's how you get remembered. In fact, you usually end up getting more work outside your niche, since people now remember you at all.
How narrow should you go?
Narrow enough that your people say, "That's me." Wide enough that enough people exist who can pay you.
- → Too broad: "I help people with real estate"
- → Better: "I help families buy villas in Dubai"
- → Sharper: "I help families relocating to Dubai find villas near good schools"
When you're just starting out, I'd go narrower than feels comfortable. You can always widen it later. It's much harder to go the other way.
Put it everywhere
Once you have your sentence, use it consistently:
- → Your Instagram bio
- → Your LinkedIn headline
- → How you introduce yourself at events
- → The start of your website
- → What you talk about in your videos
Stay with it long enough for it to work. Most people get bored of their own message long before their audience has even noticed it.
Your niche can change
This isn't a tattoo. As you grow, your niche will probably change. I started out as a filmmaker in Alexandria, working on festival media. Now, as Kamal Abdelrahman, I work on brand films, real estate marketing and personal branding in Dubai. The direction became clear by doing the work, not by thinking about it for a year.
So pick one, and start. You'll learn more from 30 posts about one niche than from another month of planning.
Write your sentence now, even if it's not perfect. Then send it to one friend and ask: "Who do you think I help?"
Looking for this kind of work? See personal branding in Dubai.